There have been some rather exciting phones released this year such as the Samsung S8, Note 8, the OnePlus 5 and the LG G6. From this, what we have seen is that 2017 is the year of bezel-less screens, albeit the OnePlus 5 (even without the phone being bezel-less, it is still a great phone). A company that has emerged out of nowhere, led by a guru of Android, is one that is called ‘Essential’. As in the title of the company and the new brand for Android smartphones, the aim of this start-up is to give users the essentials of what makes a great smartphone. Below are the main features of the Essential phone, with a analysis of it at the end.

 

• The display is bezel-less with only one chin on the phone: at the bottom. What makes this screen slightly different is that there is a cut out at the top for the front-facing camera to go, giving it a distinct look.
• The Essential phone is a modular phone, with the ability to clip accessories to the magnetic clips on the back of the phone. Accessories includes the likes of a 360 degree camera or a case.
• The phone reps titanium rather than aluminium as a shell around it, which is a much stronger and more durable metal.
• The back of the phone is not glass but a highly polished ceramic, which also adds to the durability of the phone to being scratch-resistant.
• The smartphone comes in black, white, grey and blue (also known as ‘Ocean Depths’).
• There are two rear cameras on the back – one 13 megapixel RGB camera and a 13 megapixel mono camera with image fusion technology. The idea behind this is that the RGB will provide greater contrast for the images.
• The phone has a 3040mAh battery, with fast charging capabilities.
• The Essential phone comes with 4GB ram and 128GB of storage.
• A Snapdragon 835 processor is the chip used in the phone with an Adreno 540 GPU processor.
• The Essential phone rocks stock Android, or as close as you are going to get to stock Android without it being a Nexus, Pixel or OnePlus 5.

 

Analysis – Essential Phone is Mostly Essential

For a first generation phone, this really is quite an incredible phone considering how new the company is. The Essential branding is perfect and will rival the likes of the Google Pixel, for being the best experience of Android.

The problem is that there are still things missing from this phone that a lot of people would deem as being essential. For example, it is not waterproof like competitors, does not have a micro-SD card slot, and, most noticeably, does not have a headphone jack. It is difficult to understand how a headphone jack is not an essential part to a smartphone?

Nevertheless, it is still a great phone – the second iteration will be better like we are expected to see with Google and the Pixel 2. Therefore, it is a phone to admire for where they have come from. As for wanting to buy it, well, there are still probably a few phones you are still better off with…